[1] Verticillium dahliae has a wide host range and can persist as microsclerotia in the soil for years, so management via fallowing or crop rotation generally has little success.

Even resistant cultivars may show symptoms if the field has a high concentration of Verticillium, so site selection is still essential to minimizing disease incidence.

Some susceptible crops include Brussels sprouts, cabbage, eggplant, cucumbers, mint, pepper, potatoes, pumpkin, spinach, tomato, watermelon, honeydew, and cantaloupe.

The stem may have discolored vascular tissue, exhibit rosetting (shortened internodes of the plant caused by reduced growth, resulting in a rosette-like appearance),[7] and/or be stunted.

The plant responds to the pathogen by producing tyloses which block the xylem, resulting in decreased water flow and wilting.

When the plant dies, Verticillium survives as mycelia in dead tissue, as long-term resting spores in the form of microsclerotia, or saprophytically in the soil.

These findings suggest that the capability for meiotic sexual reproduction has been adaptively maintained in the clonal lineages of V. dahliae, and can occasionally be expressed as recombination between genetic markers.

Perhaps, as suggested by Wallen and Perlin[12] for Ascomycota fungi generally, in V. dahliae homologous recombination during sexual reproduction functions to repair DNA damage, especially under stressful conditions.